Germany is the most heavily populated of all the countries within the European Union. A Traveller’s History of Germany offers a complete and authoritative history of a country of which much of its rich past and legacy of great culture has been forgotten after the traumas of the two world wars. There were Germans long before there was Germany. Germanic peoples lived for centuries in Western, Central and Eastern Europe with similar yet not identical languages and culture. Over time these developed into regional principalities and city states under the nominal rule of first the Roman Empire, then the Holy Roman Empire, and finally the Habsburg Empire. German unification did not come until 1871 under Bismarck. Germany became a world power, fuelled not only by industrialization but also by a new ideology of nationalism, a power that took on the rest of the world twice in the twentieth century and lost. Since 1945 it has risen from the ashes to become a major force – of a more palatable kind – within Europe.

Cole presents the facts in a clear and literate format and also gives the reader expert analysis of the events. The book will also have practical information for visitors, a historical gazetteer – cross-referenced to the main text – and is illustrated with relevant maps plus a Chronology of Events.

Robert Cole is Professor of History at Utah State University and is the author of France and Paris in the Traveller’s History series. He teaches many courses on Germany and has travelled widely within the country.